


Heroic Sacrifice

by Jade_Tatsu



Series: The Way it Wasn't [2]
Category: Megamind (2010)
Genre: Angst, Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-23
Updated: 2012-09-23
Packaged: 2017-11-14 21:11:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/519548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jade_Tatsu/pseuds/Jade_Tatsu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When you are the League of Heroes and one of your most powerful super-heroes goes rogue, who do you turn to? What is the price of victory and do you really know who pays that price?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heroic Sacrifice

Most super-heroes saw property destruction as the unavoidable consequence of apprehending villains. They never intended to cause damage and any damage they did do was almost always incidental to the damage that the villain caused.

That's why, when one of the most powerful members of the League of Heroes went rogue, almost all the other heroes in the world were rendered ineffectual by the death and damage caused.

Which is not to say that they would have been that effective anyway.

MetroMan, the resident super-hero of MetroCity was about as powerful as they came. Super strength, super speed, laser vision and super senses combined with invulnerability and no known weaknesses made him one of the strongest heroes on the planet. It also made him one of the deadliest villains. A fact no one really appreciated until it was too late.

Oh, the heroes tried to contain him. Their best and brightest and strongest tried to reason with him, to fight him or to subdue him. All they got was dead for their troubles. Which lead the League to look towards the one man who had fought MetroMan for years.

True, in all the years of battle he had never actually won against MetroMan and he had never made a scratch on the invulnerable hero but he had, if not walked away, then at least hobbled away from every battle to heal up and try again. And compared to the League's newfound and abhorrent lack of ability, the ability to walk away even in defeat took on a grand quality. It turned MegaMind from the ineffectual, incompetent most had thought him to be into potentially one of the strongest, most persistent evil beings on the planet.

And he was the only one they could ask for help.

Of course they had to find him.

And one thing that had been noted was that ever since MetroMan had begun his rampage, MegaMind had been conspicuous in his absence. What had been thought to be cowardice was now revealed to be simply good sense.

They were persistent though and with MetroCity burning around them they eventually found MegaMind's hideout and the blue alien himself. He on the other hand was not happy to see them. It lead to a standoff between the two, MegaMind and his piscine Minion facing off against the small group of League heroes who had found his base. The impasse was only broken when MetroMan came barrelling between them forcing all the individuals to scatter.

Of course that meant that MegaMind was now on the surface and one of the heroes made sure to scoop him up and drag him to the outskirts of the now ruined city. To say that the blue super-villain was unimpressed was an understatement and it took the combined skills of several heroes to keep him contained. The League began to see then that the one they had considered rather ineffectual was at least as dangerous as any of their villains.

Still, they managed to eventually explain the situation to the blue alien, something that if they had thought about it was a complete waste of time. MegaMind may never have defeated MetroMan but he was not stupid. He already knew what the situation was without their somewhat defensive and self-serving explanations and attempts to justify their actions. For their benefit and for the benefit of the refugees from MetroCity MegaMind managed to control his sarcasm.

"So you've come to me to ask if I have any method of defeating him, despite the fact that for the last 15 years I have not had any success in that matter. Somehow, because I have vastly more experience than you, I must know more?" The question was put to the heroes who reluctantly nodded.

MegaMind sighed, rolling his eyes before asking another question. "If I truly had any idea of how to defeat him, what makes you think I haven't tried it?"

The heroes had no answer to that question.

"Do you know why he went rogue?" One of them finally asked. If MegaMind did not have any method of defeating MetroMan then maybe he could shed light on the situation that caused the former hero to go rogue.

The blue skinned villain laughed. "He got rejected in his musical career," the alien muttered ignoring the gasps from the heroes.

"Is that all?" the question was incredulous.

"That's all," MegaMind confirmed. "It's not like MetroMan has ever been anything but a self-centred jerk."

"So I see," one of the older heroes agreed, ignoring the looks of surprise from his fellows. The same hero, a grizzled old war veteran who had fought almost every super-villain in the Foundation of Evil walked up to MegaMind, moving to step in front of him to stare him straight in the eye. "Do you know any way of _killing_ MetroMan?"

MegaMind's silence was telling but eventually he spoke. "Of course I do. I figured out how to kill him when I was fourteen but killing him is no fun, far better to defeat the supposedly undefeatable."

"How?" The old hero asked.

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because that seems to be the only way of stopping him," the old hero said, gesturing towards the burning remains of the city. "And I think you want to stop him more than the rest of us. This is your city."

The assembled heroes watched as the self-proclaimed master of all villainy surveyed the damage. There wasn't much left of the city and there had already been countless numbers of lives lost with no end in sight. Once MetroMan finished with the city he would move on, and no one had any chance of stopping him.

"Where is Minion?"

"Right here, Sir," the piscine's voice was soft as he walked up to his Master. The watching heroes saw the glances that passed between master and servant but none of them could understand the silent conversation.

"I will not do it," MegaMind said.

"Do what?"

"Kill him."

"What? You have to!" It was one of the younger heroes who objected.

"You are talking about murder," the usually bubbly super-villain said softly with a serious tone. "You have implied that I should just do it, so that you can keep your clean hands and cleaner reputations. Not today. I will give you the means, you will have to carry out the deed. _This_ ," the criminal mastermind gestured towards the city, "was not of my doing. That was caused by humans."

"I'll do it," the older hero spoke again. "Just tell me how."

Reluctantly Minion reached into his suit as MegaMind took a small vial from his belt. The blue skinned alien took the small container Minion offered him and deftly removed the lid before dripping in a few drops of liquid from the vial he held. Then he recapped the container and shook it.

"Take this," MegaMind said, handing over the small container. "Don't open it here. Take it to as close to him as you can, then open it, and make sure he breathes it in. He doesn't know what it is, so he won't try to escape. The reaction will kill him within a minute."

"What about the rest of us?"

MegaMind snorted. "It's perfectly safe for you humans but it will kill anything from the Glaopunk Quadrant."

At the disbelieving looks on the hero's faces the evil genius laughed. "What? You didn't think he was human did you?" the question was scornful.

There was no answer and eventually the older hero shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I'll be back shortly," the man said before walking towards the burning city.

MegaMind ignored the other heroes who are watching him with distaste as he turned his back to the city and looked up at the sky. It doesn't really take that long at all before the slightest smell drifted to him between the burning smoke. Minion came and stood beside him and together they sat down, watching the sky.

The other heroes keep watching the city. They don't notice as MegaMind's breathing becomes shallow and his eyes drift close. They don't feel anything wrong as Minion stills and his suit slumps further. And they don't hear anything as MegaMind's heart slows and falters and stops. They don't think anything odd with the way the super-villain just sits there with his servant, at least they don't think anything of it until the older hero returns his eyes grim.

"Sir?" the young bravado's question is tentative.

"It's done. It worked just the way he said it would," the man's voice is gruff and it's only then that the younger heroes begin to get an inkling that something is amiss. MegaMind has wanted to defeat MetroMan for so long that surely, at the news of his death he would be saying something. But the blue super-villain is silent.

It's a moment of epiphany for most of them, when they walk around the seated pair to see MegaMind's green eyes closed, his face relaxed, with his hands folded over an oddly silent brain-bot. The truth of his words hit home and they can do little more than watch the remains of the city burn in the back ground.

"Darn fool," the older hero whispers, but his voice was thick with respect.

And as the realisation of what MegaMind has given and what they have done sinks into the gathered heroes as they watch the burning city, knowing that it is the pyre raised by one of their own, they are forced to wonder what true evil is.

**Author's Note:**

> I mucked the tenses up a bit near the end. :( Sorry. And yes, I LIKE writing from other perspectives rather than the main character. What others see and think about the events is always fun to me.


End file.
